Standard renewal letter £205. Best I could get using online comparison sites was £157 (even had one quote for £168 from my existing company!).

After amicable discussions, new quote down to £145 !! 'Exactly the same policy as before' says Chummy.

Then I get the policy details and find the excess has increased by £100. 'That's not what we agreed" says I, pleasantly, to the nice young man when I rang back.

Today, the underwriters - fair play to them - I'm impressed - confirmed that not only the £100 is disappearing but, as a goodwill gesture, so has our voluntary excess of £250.

Now that I call a result. Dead chuffed.

And yesterday spent a bit of time on the phone with my bank as they have a couple of bugs in their website/mailing system. The lovely lady at the end of the time said she'd round our time up to an hour, pay me £6 to cover my phone charge (even though I dialled 0800!) and out of the blue an extra £25 ex-gratia payment to cover my 'distress'.